Publication Date: Nov 19, 2020
This table appears in the Community Engagement Learning Module and is included to provide an accessible version.
| Inform | Consult | Involve | Collaborate | Empower | |
| Public participation goal | To provide the public with balanced and objective information to assist them in understanding the problem, alternatives, opportunities, and/or solutions. | To obtain public feedback on analysis alternatives and/or decisions. | To work directly with the public throughout the process to ensure that public concerns and aspirations are consistently understood and considered. | To partner with the public in each aspect of the decision including the development of alternatives and the identification of the preferred solution. | To give the public the power to make final decisions. |
| Promise to the Public | We will keep you informed. | We will keep you informed, listen to and acknowledge concerns and aspirations, and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision. | We will work with you to ensure that your concerns and aspirations are directly reflected in the alternatives developed and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision. | We will look to you for advice on formulating solutions and incorporate your recommendations into our decisions to the maximum extent. | We will implement what you decide. |
| Example techniques | Fact sheets, web sites, open houses | Public comment, focus groups, surveys, public meetings | Workshops, deliberative polling | Citizen advisory committees, consensus- building, participatory decision-making | Citizen juries, ballots, delegated decision |